Photo Credit: IndyCar
IndyCar announced a few months ago that they were looking to have a no points race in Beijing China later on this year. Now, RACER Magazine is reporting that IndyCar is saying those plans have been tabled for this year.
“We are not going to be racing in China despite the fact there was strong interest there,” IndyCar president Mark Miles told RACER. “Here we are on June 1 and all the arrangements aren’t in place, so we don’t feel comfortable adding an event to the calendar when we’re not confident it can go on without a hitch.”
Miles than went onto say IndyCar is still trying to establish a points-paying international race early in the schedule. The series hasn’t raced anywhere internationally since Sao Paul Brazil left the schedule after the 2013 season.
“Our focus remains on finding up to two international races that we could run between the Super Bowl and St. Pete that would count in the championship if we can find the right arrangements,” he added to his statement to Racer Magazine.
Towards the beginning of May, Miles said in a statement that IndyCar were having conversations to hold a non-points racing event in the Fengtai District of Beijing. They wanted the race to be held in October, but some issues that were extremely important needed to addressed and then solved before the even would be added to the schedule.
“IndyCar is pleased with the amount of interest in China and the substantial effort that has been made to try and make this proposed event a reality,” the statement continued.
IndyCar was also planning a race to be held in the coastal city of Quingdao in August of 2012 but the race was cancelled two months out because there were issues with the promoters. Despite the issues, China was still a candidate for a race in early March.
